Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Canadian Blogger Arrested in Tehran

Via CBC comes word that Canadian-Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan has been arrested in Tehran. Derakhshan, author of Editor Myself, which has been included in the news and politics section of publicbroadcasting.ca for some time has drawn fire from both Tehran and Washington over the years.

International human rights groups and media reports said Derakhshan, a former Toronto resident, was arrested on Nov. 1."His case is in a preliminary investigative stage at a revolutionary court and he is currently in incarceration at a jail in Tehran," Jamishid said, giving no further explanation of the charges against Derakhshan.In Iran, revolutionary courts handle national security matters.Known as "the blogfather" for his pioneering efforts at helping Iranian bloggers post welblogs in the Persian language, Derakhshan was both an outspoken critic of the clerical regime in Tehran, and supportive of his homeland's controversial nuclear program.In his blog Editor: Myself, he wrote that Iran had the right to defend itself from what he called "U.S. aggression."